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I'm Not Perfect
Artist
Jeffrey Gibson
(Born 1972, United States)
Date2014
MediumRepurposed punching bag, repurposed wool army blanket, glass beads, tin jingles, nylon fringe, artificial sinew, and acrylic paint
DimensionsOverall: 75 1/2 × 16 × 16 in. (191.77 × 40.64 × 40.64 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase
Object number2024.3
Status
On viewLabel TextIn his installations, paintings, and sculptures, Jeffery Gibson champions overlooked narratives to create reflections of contemporary life. Of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, he fuses Indigenous cultures and histories with references to pop culture, art history, and ideas about gender. I’m Not Perfect, 2014, is part of the artist’s punching bag series. Gibson intricately adorns the found boxing equipment with glass beads and tin jingles. An object typically associated with aggression, action, and emotional release is transformed into a multilayered reexamination of masculinity and Indigenous ceremonies. The eponymous embroidery around the top of the punching bag directly cites the title of a song by Grace Jones from 1986, I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You). In the music video, the icon from the 1980s undergoes beauty treatments to conform to contemporary standards of perfection. Ultimately, she victoriously reasserts her intrinsic value while wearing a skirt designed by Keith Haring. By combining the message of Jones’s song with symbols relating to his gender and cultural background, Gibson creates a nuanced meditation on a twenty-first-century man’s interior journey.
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